印象主义是19世纪后半期至20世纪初期流行于欧美乃至世界的一种艺术流派和文艺思潮。它的产生打破了从古希腊到意大利文艺复兴所形成的古典传统,给西方艺术带来了全新的面貌。19世纪西方美术的中心在法国,主宰法国画坛的仍然是有势力的官方学院派。19世纪后期,法国美术界有一部分青年画家反对官方学院派艺术的墨守成规,由于自己的创新作品不能在官方沙龙展出而强烈反对官方的审查制 Impressionism is an art genre and a trend of literature and art popularized in Europe, America and the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its production broke the classical tradition formed by the Renaissance from ancient Greece to Italy and brought a brand new appearance to western art. The center of Western art in the 19th century in France, dominated the French art scene is still a powerful official academic school. In the late 19th century, some young painters in the French fine arts community objected to the rigid rules of official academic art, and strongly opposed official censorship because their innovative works could not be exhibited at the official salon